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Group: testing and evaluating user interfaces

topics > computer science > Group: user interface



Topic:
collecting statistics on a UserInterface
Topic:
ease of use
Topic:
ease of learning
Topic:
examples of usability studies
Topic:
keystroke-level model for user interface evaluation
Topic:
interactive response time
Topic:
problems with usability testing
Topic:
testing user interfaces by transcripts
Topic:
usability errors
Group:
information retrieval
Group:
psychology
Group:
testing

Topic:
children vs. adults
Topic:
comparing paper to electronic access to information
Topic:
experimental results on programming
Topic:
experimental results on structured programming
Topic:
learning a programming language
Topic:
man-machine symbiosis
Topic:
minimal manuals and guided exploration
Topic:
novice users and the UserInterface
Topic:
programmer productivity
Topic:
prototyping
Topic:
selecting with a mouse
Topic:
statistics
Topic:
user-centered design
Topic:
user interface design

Subtopic: man-machine symbiosis up

Quote: evaluate an interactive computer system in terms of the total performance of the combined man-machine system [»cardSK7_1980]

Subtopic: human factors up

Quote: the central, quantitative human factors are learning time, performance speed, error rate, retention, and satisfaction
Quote: project managers, designers, and marketing must clearly state the primary human-factor goals for a project

Subtopic: user-interface specialist up

Quote: user-interface specialists found twice as many problems as programmers with guidelines and 12x more problems than user-interface testers [»tognB_1992]

Subtopic: ethnography, video up

Quote: ethnography is the study of users in their own work environment; video helps capture tacit skills, tricks of the trade, and ways of communicating [»jiroM5_2006]
Quote: British airspace controllers use flight progress strips arranged in racks; records all instructions to the pilot [»hughJA11_1992]

Subtopic: quantitative vs. qualitative up

Quote: small differences in a user interface can cause large differences in usability; e.g., command names. A quantitative approach is inappropriate [»carrJM10_1986]

Subtopic: ideal vs. actual up

Quote: predicting behavior tokens in ideally skilled performance ignores errors, boundary conditions, and why people act [»carrJM10_1986]
Quote: real interface design requires real users using real applications to achieve real goals; laboratory studies of simple and repetitive tasks are often irrelevant [»carrJM10_1986]

Subtopic: user testing techniques up

Quote: discount usability engineering--when two or users have a problem that can be explained, then best to fix the problem at once [»nielJ3_1990]
Quote: analyze failures by users when interacting with a system [»furnGW11_1987]
Quote: study user interfaces by an invisible operator that corrects user mistakes [»goodMD10_1984]
Quote: testing blind users with screenreaders; listened incredibly fast; scan with their ears [»theoMF11_2003]

Subtopic: user-centered design up

Topic: user-centered design
Quote: need a process to attain ease of use; e.g., establishing testable behavior specifications and testing them [»goulJD3_1985]
Quote: need to understand users through direct contact, interviews, observation, training exercises [»goulJD3_1985]
Quote: the primary test of a user interface is its success with users; ask if they understand and if they can perform tasks easily and efficiently [»apple_1987]
Quote: critical parts of a system should be tested on users [»smitDC4_1982]
Quote: for interactive software, should pay attention to the needs and preferences of users; simple changes can improve the product [»ledgH10_1980]
Quote: DEC uses contextual or action research--action under uncertainty is the norm, can't postpone judgments, real situations [»whitJ5_1989]

Subtopic: personal diferences up

Quote: user interface race revealed dramatic differences in tools and skills, invoked a lively discussion [»shneB_1990]

Subtopic: model-based design up

Quote: Card, Moran, and Newell summarized existing psychological knowledge through a simple model of the human processor. They use the model to numerically analyzing human-computer interaction [»cardSK_1983]
Quote: use an approximate system level description of the mind to help predicate behavior [»cardSK_1983]
Quote: the Model Human Processor consists of a perceptual system, cognitive system, and motor system; characterize each component by processor cycle time, memory capacity, decay rate, and code type [»cardSK_1983]
Quote: the cycle time for each processor in the Model Human Processor is on the order of a tenth of a second
Quote: analyze complex behavior with GOMS: goals to be achieved, operators to do things, methods as procedures, and selection rules for choosing among competing methods [»cardSK_1983]
Quote: a GOMS method is a learned procedure, i.e., a conditional sequence of goals and operators

Subtopic: low-level usability up

Quote: derive Fitts' Law by assuming that the relative accuracy of movement is constant; the measured time for acquiring a target is within the computed range [»cardSK_1983]
Quote: use the steering law for trajectory-based tasks; like Fitts' law [»accoJ5_1999]
Quote: for steering tasks, tablet and mouse are faster than trackpoint which is faster than trackball or touchpad [»accoJ5_1999]
Quote: use point-completion deadlines to separate pointing time from search time in usability studies [»hornAJ9_2001]
Quote: search for upper-left targets faster than lower-right targets; 2x to 4x; roughly linear for three column layout; lower middle targets slower [»hornAJ9_2001]
Quote: 1/5 second search time for target-only layouts; independent of position
Quote: comparison of constrained pointing tasks and goal-crossing tasks for speed and accuracy [»accoJ4_2002]

Subtopic: paper prototype up

Quote: design and test user interfaces with simple paper prototypes that are moved in response to user's actions; allows early, repeated testing of ideas [»rettM4_1994]
Quote: paper-based prototypes were just as effective in uncovering usability problems as high-fidelity prototypes or the product itself [»virzRA4_1996]

Subtopic: automated usability testing up

Quote: automated usability testing by uploading statistics, suggestion boxes, and dialogue boxes that test user comprehension at error messages [»duttG9_1993]
Quote: automated usability testing is less expensive, more consistent, greater coverage [»ivorMY12_2001]

Subtopic: video up

Quote: dealers can make deals every five seconds over the phone; propose prices and quantities using context, abbreviations, and jargon; through video analysis [»jiroM5_2006]

Subtopic: log analysis up

Quote: use logs and analysis tools to study the use of web applications [»manbU8_2000]
Quote: usability information is often easy to record but hard to interpret (keystrokes), or useful but hard to automatically label (task completion); makes automation difficult [»ivorMY12_2001]

Subtopic: query-based testing up

Quote: open-ended testing of Hypertext; measured correct responses to queries [»whalT5_1989]

Subtopic: usability walkthrough up

Quote: usability walkthroughs with users, developers, and human factors experts; everyone writes down reactions then users speak [»biasR9_1991]
Quote: with usability walkthroughs get actual actions by users, problems uncovered by users, and opinions by usability experts; synergy [»biasR9_1991]
Quote: industrial data processing professionals could identify 44% of the serious faults in a human interface [»moliR3_1990]
Quote: use multiple designers to evaluate a user interface; a single designer will only detect a small portion of the usability problems [»nielJ5_1990]

Subtopic: layout testing up

Quote: small differences in layout appropriateness do not affect performance
Quote: using subtitles to group related items clearly improves search time without changing error rates [»hornAJ9_2001]
Quote: a well-organized screen layout allows many items without hurting search time [»hornAJ9_2001]

Subtopic: presentation vs. domain testing up

Quote: while presentation code is difficult to test, can test the domain code through direct calls [»fowlM3_2001]

Subtopic: test by disabling features up

Quote: test interface by disallowing certain options, e.g., link options in NetBook [»graySH2_1989]
Quote: use sequential disclosure of a function's components when testing an interface; identifies the important feature [»knoxST5_1989]

Subtopic: evaluate by time up

Quote: user interface race ;e.g., type in quote, place in alphabetic order with repetitions on a line, repeat
Quote: using pop-up menus instead of dialogue-boxes saved 11 seconds for certain telephone queries; estimated savings of $1.6 million in two years [»nielJ11_1993]

Subtopic: evaluate by task up

Quote: establish human-factors goals in terms of a benchmark set of tasks for each kind of user [»shneB_1998]

Subtopic: simulated system up

Quote: SmartHelp simulated intelligent help with a person, but none of the participants voiced suspicions [»carrJM9_1988]

Subtopic: pretesting up

Quote: pretesting is a powerful aid in designing an experiment that uses subjects [»ledgH_1981]
Quote: in user testing, the experimenter should teach subjects about the editor; otherwise takes too long to learn correctly [»ledgH_1981]

Subtopic: recruiting subjects up

Quote: for user testing, found that on-the-spot recruiting was better than schedules; otherwise many subjects never report [»ledgH_1981]

Subtopic: problems with usability testing up

Quote: less than 1% overlap in findings between independent usability teams; wide variation even within same evaluation technique [»ivorMY12_2001]
Quote: 75% of HTML guidelines appear in only one style guide; low validity
[»ivorMY12_2001]

Group: testing and evaluating user interfaces up

Topic: collecting statistics on a UserInterface (12 items)
Topic: ease of use (47 items)
Topic: ease of learning (38 items)
Topic: examples of usability studies (31 items)
Topic: keystroke-level model for user interface evaluation (6 items)
Topic: interactive response time (32 items)
Topic: problems with usability testing (16 items)
Topic: testing user interfaces by transcripts (13 items)
Topic: usability errors
(6 items)

Related Topics up

Group: information retrieval   (25 topics, 674 quotes)
Group: psychology   (9 topics, 307 quotes)
Group: testing   (18 topics, 557 quotes)

Topic: children vs. adults (33 items)
Topic: comparing paper to electronic access to information (35 items)
Topic: experimental results on programming (75 items)
Topic: experimental results on structured programming (11 items)
Topic: learning a programming language (15 items)
Topic: man-machine symbiosis (46 items)
Topic: minimal manuals and guided exploration (44 items)
Topic: novice users and the UserInterface (25 items)
Topic: programmer productivity (57 items)
Topic: prototyping (18 items)
Topic: selecting with a mouse (44 items)
Topic: statistics (12 items)
Topic: user-centered design (65 items)
Topic: user interface design
(36 items)


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